Judge: Bail set at $75K for man who shot himself

Tribune illustration

Tribune illustration

Dan HinkelTribune reporter

Prosecutors say a Chicago man shot himself in the foot figuratively and in the ankle literally early Saturday morning.

After Clarence Patterson, 23, accidentally fired a round from a nickel-plated .40-caliber semi-automatic handgun into his ankle early Saturday in the West Englewood neighborhood, police said, he was arrested and charged with unlawful use of a weapon by a felon. Patterson was also on parole for a retail theft charge, according to court records.

On Sunday, he hobbled into court on crutches with his leg bandaged, and Cook County Judge James Brown ordered him held on $75,000 bail.

Officers responding to a call of a domestic disturbance saw Patterson run east across Damen Avenue, according to a police report. The officers saw Patterson drop a gun as he fled, police said.

Police caught up with him in the backyard of a home near 56th Street and Winchester Avenue, where he told them, “I think I shot myself,” according to the police report. Officers found the gun nearby, loaded with one round in the chamber, police said.

Patterson, of the 6100 block of South Damen Avenue, was taken to Holy Cross Hospital, where he was treated for a gunshot wound to the top of his ankle, police said.